Let the mystery back in - The Idea Doula

The Artist-Creator’s Office (Dispatch No. 6)

The idea of a spell is one that is compelling to me. In my mind, a spell is an unknown/benign gesture that triggers something known and observable. A spell is playing around with mystery and seeing the effects of this play in the tangible. This is why when Akwaeke Emezi speaks about writing being a spell, I am enchanted. I become enchanted because I’m willing to release all the information overload associated with being an artist these days, and I begin to simply embrace the creative act the way I would work a spell. Becoming enchanted with your creative process is a necessary step towards the unfolding of your success. Enchantment requires a creator to be consumed with their work, for their attention to be captivated by the mystery of what is flowing from them.

Yet, how can your attention be captivated by something that is a mystery? Isn’t it human nature to want to harness every experience into a name-able thing? We want to take our process and pepper it with adjectives and smart-sounding acronyms; we want to parade our process around the people we admire and our peers like a newborn. The discomfort, the mundanity, the normal-ness of a spell is what puts us off. I see it in myself too: I am not willing to be bored and boring (a mystic sitting with a spell) and thus, I cut myself off from the chance to be captivated and captivating.

The creative process these days is one that has lost its mystical nature and its practicality all at once. If a creator isn’t coming to the work to monetize the products that come from the work, they often seek the Muse through it, like a flashy spiritual experience with big emotional fireworks, and the Muse eludes them. But, what if the return to both pragmatic artistry and the sense of wonder and awe was simple?

Living in the information age is a blessing, but for a voracious mind, it can also be a distraction. People will often label themselves lifelong students, but never really get to experience the pleasure that comes with resolving an internal conflict through the things they’re so busy learning. I am no exception to this experience: I find myself bloated with ideas, strategies, plans and goals. Every day comes and goes, yet no real sense of fulfillment that signals that transition through synthesis: turning learning into living or learned wisdom into lived wisdom.

Here are some ideas that are helping me return to a more sustainable relationship with mysticism and practicality in my practice.

The ripple effect of any attempt is much greater than I can perceive or imagine. When I am demanding of myself that which is beyond my threshold, I leave no room for the power of that which is beyond my comprehension to work for me, through me, beside me.
Similarly, I may seem stagnant above the surface or on social media because I’m not reading as many books as my peers or posting as much of my work. But, even as I move in silence (lol), I am still moving, processing, metabolising the things that deserve that energy now.
When I give space to the playful, the profound becomes less shy, less elusive, and it shows up in my practice. When I give space to the practical aspects of ritual, the mystical aspects begin to bubble too, availing themselves in the environment I have created for that particular presence.
Joy is a conduit for love to flow. Love flows in the form of art. When I make space for my joy, my love is warmed up; it becomes ready ink in my pen.
Honesty is a conduit for love to flow. When I can sit with the truth of what is reality for me in a given moment, that truth invites love in, or at least it sends an invitation to Love’s address.
When I become curious about what is happening in my world, asking a toddler’s incessant “why,” something can rise up to answer that question if I am willing to wait for it, whatever it is.

What spells are you sitting with lately?